Asif Iqbal
Doha
FIVE students from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) are set to represent Qatar at the regional competition of the CFA Institute Research Challenge on April 4 and 5 in Ireland, while four students from the Qatar University (QU) team will compete in a Middle East competition, organised by the regional CFA societies.
The qualification of the CMU-Q for the challenge in Ireland follows their impressive win in the finale on Sunday of the inaugural CFA Institute Research Challenge - a global competition that tests equity research, valuation, investment report writing and presentation skills of university students. This year's participating teams included CMU-Q, Georgetown SFS Qatar and QU.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. Each Research Challenge season leverages the efforts of over 140 CFA member societies, 3,500 member volunteers, and more than 5,000 students from over 1,000 universities globally. Local competitions (organised by CFA societies) lead up to regional finals; regional champions then convene for the global final.
If the CMU-Q team members win in Ireland, they will potentially represent Qatar in the global competition in Malaysia. The team members included Alfred Godwin, Fizza Aamir, Shahrya Nayyer, Badis Glaied and Anthony Lo.
In the inaugural CFA Institute Research Challenge, each team from the participating universities were required to write an equity research report on the subject company (Ooredoo in this case) with an investment recommendation.
At the finale, the teams presented their equity research to an independent panel of judges from the financial sector in Qatar.
Each team had a faculty advisor and an industry mentor from local institutions such as Al Rayan Investment, Qatar Investment Authority, QInvest and QNB Financial Services. The students were also supported by dedicated faculty advisors from their respective universities. The CFA Society Doha arranged financial modelling and communications workshops for all the teams. As part of this competition, students conducted in-depth analysis on a listed company's stock and produced a comprehensive equity research report. The winning team was chosen based on the thoroughness of the analysis, rather than their forecast of the stock price movement.
Following their win, the students from CMUQ stated:"The CFA Research Challenge was a wonderful opportunity to represent Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar in a competition that provided us an understanding of investments as well as hands-on experience of equity research. We truly felt that we all learned new skills and know-how from our mentors and faculty advisors."
Earlier, speaking at the event, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Financial Market Authority Nasser Ahmed al Shaibi said:"To see students from universities in Qatar and professionals from local institutions come together to drive the nation's financial sector, reflects Qatar's future steps toward building a sound and resilient financial sector that will promote sustainable economic growth."
Shaibi was speaking on behalf of Qatar Central Bank Governor HE Sheikh Abdulla bin Saud al Thani.